Thursday, February 01, 2007

Trouble With Tim

I'm sitting in front of the laptop doing some late-night blog surfing, when I hear several loud, insistent "meows."

Looking down on the floor, I see that Tim has decided to join me.

I guess he can't sleep either.

"Why aren't you upstairs bonding with Joseph, you little bugger?"

Tim looks up at me with those big eyes of his, and meows again, pleadingly.



"Oh, all right... come here."

I shift in my chair so he can jump more easily onto my lap.

Once there, he places his paws against my chest, lifts his head to mine, and purrs loudly, rubbing his cheek against my face-- then lays his head on my lap, and continues purring contentedly.

Awwww.

But then rather suddenly, his head pops up, he leaps to the floor and lets go a long, loud "Meeeowww."

Hmmm.

"What's goin' on, Tim? Are ya' hungry?"

He turns away from me-- crouches down low, sticks out his neck and makes an awful, familiar sound.

A gagging sound.

"Aw, man-- a hairball already... "

As if to give immediate confirmation, Tim vomits.

A Lot.

And as I bend over to see what he's deposited on our rug, something doesn't look right.

Rather, it looks . . . colorful.

Huh.

I rub my chin.

Oh no-

Suddenly, I remember this:



An earlier victim of Tim's attentions.

Wrapping my hand in an old cloth, I pick up a tiny, mangled white go-go boot.

A torn, wet, pink mini.

A (once fabulous) blue and gold evening dress-- sans one sleeve, and covered in... well, you know.

And finally, a brilliant orange summer shift, mostly intact-- but with a tiny blue sleeve stuck to it.

Well, the boy does have good taste.

(Bad pun, I know-- but I'm tired)

Carefully, I place the regurgitated fashions in a plastic bag, and drop said bag in the rubbish-- hoping they won't be missed.

So now I'm trying to figure out how to keep Tim away from all of the the tiny, inappropriate things he seems to crave.

Anyone else have this problem?

Any ideas on how to change this kind of behavior in a 4-year-old, former stray kitty?

***********************************************************

Note: To any concerned cat owners out there-- Tim was his usual mellow self immediately following this incident-- no sign of further distress.

Though, shortly after I went to bed, I heard a scraping sound coming from the hallway. Upon investigation, I found Tim sticking his paws underneath Evan's bedroom door-- clearly wanting to get to the Polly Pocket mother lode on the other side.

Sigh.


16 comments:

Laura said...

Sorry I dont have any help on this one but the kids I babysit have a dog that likes to chew things like that plus pens crayons etc, drives me crazy

Erica said...

Yikes! Rubbermaid containers are my answers to everything...

Thankfully our dog doesn't chew or destroy things anymore - unless there is food involved. She ate a box of Lindt truffles over xmas and vomited wrappers :-P

Major Bedhead said...

Maybe you should tell Evan that the cat ate one of her doll's outfits. Then buy some of those Rubbermaid containers and stress the fact that she needs to keep all her tiny toys in them from now on.

Do you know if the cat was a stray for a long time? Maybe he's just used to eating anything he can and will stop doing this once he realizes he's going to get fed every day. Or maybe not. Cats can be weird, weird creatures.

Minnesota Nice said...

Why is it that I suddenly have a ravenous craving for black velvet? (with a side of pearls).

Jamie said...

I'm sorry, I couldn't help but chuckle as I read your post. Funny how bringing a pet into the house can bring to light all the things you didn't think would be an issue.

Cats are curious creatures - some chew on things, some don't.

Sounds like you have a "chewer" on your hands. Hopefully with a little help from Evan (hiding all polly pockets from Tim!) and the family (keeping your eye out for small-edible-Tim-attracting-objects, it won't be so much a problem for you, or him anymore :)

Good luck!

Scott K. Johnson said...

LOL @ MN Nice!

Sandra Miller said...

Laura-

Pens? Crayons?

Yikes!

Erica-

I think that Rubbermaid containers will help to a degree.

But the whole point of having toys is so you can play with them.

And Tim is a stealthy one.

If Evan is playing with any of her small toys outside of her room (our entire downstairs is an open floor plan-- READ: no doors), then we have a problem.

Julia-

The folks at the shelter have no idea how long Tim was a stray-- though his vet thinks at least a month, but could have been as long as a year.

Judging by his appetite, I'd say it was a while...

MN-

Sounds delicious. :-)

Jamie-

No reason to be sorry. While I felt awful for Tim at the moment he was sick, once I saw that he was okay, couldn't help laughing myself.

It's gonna be tough hiding things from him.

Sort of like having a toddler in the house with the ability to leap on top of counters, bookcases and the like...

art-sweet said...

I am laughing. At your silly kitty and at MN Nice.

Keep Tim away from the used test strips...

If not a mother... said...

I was going to say what Julia said, but then I saw your comment and remembered your open floor plan. ;)

Hmm. Maybe close off the rooms upstairs, so that at least he won't get into stuff upstairs. This one is a stumper for a veteran cat person. I can ask our vet friend, though.

Anonymous said...

This is going to seem like it's way out in left field, so bear with me...

I've been doing research on dogs, and apparently the solution to a chewing puppy problem is to give them something appropriate to chew on that they like the taste of better than shoes (for example).

A few of the treats that I've seen recommended also happen to be favorites with cats... maybe if he had something tasty to chew on he would ignore the Polly fashion parade?

A few suggestions are:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=14897&N=2002+113878
and
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=11896&Ntt=pizzle&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2001&Nty=1

Between that and some storage containers, I'm hoping that you can avoid the situation in the future.

(The second link is more expensive, but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to cut them up and give Tim smaller pieces to help spread them out). Silly cat.

Anonymous said...

my links didn't work...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/
Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=14897&N=2002+
113878

and

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/
Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=11896&Ntt=pizz
le&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=
1&N=2001&Nty=1

(you'll have to take out the line breaks, obviously)

Sandra Miller said...

Anne-

Thanks for the suggestion and links!

Just ordered a pack of the cat chew treats... and bonus(!)-- these are supposed to promote healthier teeth and gums.

You see, while Tim's vet said he was in excellent health and had beautiful teeth, she also told me he had a bit of gum recession over the canines-- maybe these treats can help with that too...

Anonymous said...

I must be channeling you because I'm up late with a purring kitty who just threw up something that looks like a plastic army guy. The cat's fine. The army guy - uh not so much.

Chris said...

In the past i wanted to indulge in a polly pocket or two. But i didnt. Im pretty certain he will out grow this stage in about 6 years.lol. I really needed to read a post like that this morning. Thanks.:)
Our cat is partial to really nice leather furniture. Maybe i should introduce him to Polly and her friends.

Kerri. said...

My ex-boyfriend's cat used to eat Christmas ribbons, test strips, dental floss, buttons, and grilled cheese sandwiches. It was more "goat" than cat.

I am not sure what kind of advice I have, other than it's normal and tupperware bins are a godsend. :)

Jess Riley said...

Oh, that Tim! lol...pets sure can get into the strangest things. Daisy's big fetishes are dryer sheets and dirty washclothes.

George Carlin used to have a bit about feeding rubber bands to his dog so he could slingshot the attached poo into the neighbor's yard.